Lavender Foal Syndrome is an autosomal recessive lethal disorder affecting Arabian foals which is also characterised by a dilute coat colour and severe neurological signs.
Lavender Foal syndrome (LFS), also referred to as dilute lethal (Bowling 1996), lethal LFS (Schott II & Petersen 2005), and coat colour dilution lethal (Fanelli 2005) is a condition only reported to affect Arabian foals (Bowling 1996; Fanelli 2005; Madigan 1997; Pascoe & Knottenbelt 1999) inherited in an autosomal recessive manner (Bowling 1996). Affected foals have an unusual dilute coat colour, demonstrate various neurological abnormalities, are not able to stand and nurse, and if the typical coat colour characteristic is overlooked may be incorrectly diagnosed as suffering from neonatal maladjustment syndrome (NMS), neonatal septicaemia or neonatal encephalopathy (Bowling 1996; Page et al. 2006). Post mortem evaluations have failed to yield any macroscopic findings, suggesting a biochemical cause for LFS. The prevalence of LFS remains unknown (Fanelli 2005; Page et al. 2006). A recent study using SNP chip technology has allowed researchers to identify a candidate region of 1 Mb containing 216 candidate genes for the disease (Gabreski et al. 2009). The disclosed embodiments locate genetic markers associated with the disease.